Saturday, March 25, 2006

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2

"Are you mad at me!"

In Tobe Hooper's original masterpiece The Texas Chainsaw Massacre he adeptly captured what could be described as an artist's vision of Hell. In its sequel, Hooper intentionally over-indulges in every creative aspect. He creates some deliciously macabre moments and also black humor in addition to heaps of gore. This film is nowhere near the level of its predecessor, however it still manages to work. Dennis Hopper stars as Lefty Enright, he is related to two of the characters of the first film and has been 'hunting' the Leatherface clan for years now. He is befriended by a radio DJ called Stretch played wonderfully by Caroline Williams, she carries the entire film. Stretch wants to help Lefty capture them, he eventually agrees to let her. The film takes off at this point. One of the best sequences of this film is the radio station visitation by Leatherface and his bizarro brother Chop-Top. The interaction of the two of them with Stretch is absolutely priceless. The story eventually takes us to the freak show family's underground lair, in which Lefty attempts to rescue Stretch and engages in a very well executed chainsaw battle. All of the performances in this film are great and I would say that the first half of the film is the strongest. A minor horror classic.